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One of the main changes to note is that the global lists have been reorganized around themes instead of being organized by pairings with classic books. These themes include daily adventure, strength through relationships, forced travel, action, defining oneself in the world, and mythology and traditional literature. At the end of the fiction list for each grade, there are several examples of paired novels where teachers can combine a classic novel, such as The Secret Garden, with several works of world fiction. In addition, books that are out of print have been removed from the lists.
A multicolored fish with shiny metallic scales.The selected global books for the lists are determined through global award lists such as the USBBY Outstanding International Books and Outstanding Books for Global Society, as well as awards that focus on specific regions of the world, such as the Children’s African Book Award and the Middle East Book Award, among many others. Throughout the year, global books are identified from review sources and review copies of global books sent to Worlds of Words. To be considered for inclusion, a book must take place in a global culture outside the United States or focus on a character who moves between a global culture and the United States. The book must receive positive reviews and be recommended to educators for consideration in classrooms and libraries. Finally, the book must be culture-specific, not a generic story where there are no obvious cultural references or values.The Rainbow Fish (Marcus Pfiescher, 1999). Others focus on animals or children in an environment that contains cultural artifacts in the illustrations or features cultural values at the center of the story. The same pattern can be seen in fantasies, where some are embedded in the mythology and cultural traditions of global cultures and include characters with strong cultural identities, while other fantasies remain generic.
A group of immigrants wrapped in blankets huddle on a sailboat, and one girl looks at the reader against a starry, foggy background.
One of the most recent trends is books that describe cross-border travel, where families visit their parents’ countries of origin so that their children can experience that culture and language. These books highlight the space between cultures where children develop transnational identities and experiences; a space that is becoming increasingly important given the global mobility of the modern world. It is also important that these books are not books of refugees, but books in which families have immigrated for many reasons. The problem is not the trauma of violence and conflict, but the identity, language, and diverse cultural affiliations of first-generation children of immigrants.
In the nonfiction literature, the emphasis on first-person voices is evident in the number of books that are memoirs or photo essays based on interviews or youth magazines, indicating a value for children’s voices. In addition, there are many collections of biographies of children and adults who are social and environmental activists, demonstrating how young people can act and showing that ordinary people can make a difference. Some of these collections are historical, others are contemporary. Along with these biographies, there are informational books about the history of protests and marches, which show that resistance takes many forms and has changed the world.
What is missing are global series of books for young readers, such as books that are easy to read and books with transitional chapters. Series books play an important role for readers in grades 1-4, who need these books to read independently and become fluent. The lack of global books is striking, given the large number of book series and the many new series that appear each year. The series that are available are usually time travel books, not contemporary ones.
